


7 Rings (or 7 times Lance proposes to Pidge and the 1 time he means it)

by Fromageinterrupted



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A teeny bit of angst, F/M, Lotura if you squint, Most characters are only mentioned, Mostly Fluff, flirtyrobot, hot guy in coveralls, pidgance, plance, sakkarie, server event, there’s art on tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:14:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29734413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fromageinterrupted/pseuds/Fromageinterrupted
Summary: Pidge has had several marriage proposals over the years, all from Lance. Maybe this time she’ll take it seriously?
Relationships: Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22
Collections: The Conservatory Events





	7 Rings (or 7 times Lance proposes to Pidge and the 1 time he means it)

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a Conservatory Server Event. There is art on tumblr done by the wonderful Sakarrie.

Excitement bubbled up in Katie, the way water boils in a vacuum, every little thing her dad introducing her to causing her heart rate to speed up. She’d wanted this forever. Or it felt that way at least. He was taking her to see the ship that would take him and Matt further than any human had traveled before. Just thinking about the intricacies of the design was almost more than she could bear.

“Are we close?” She gripped onto her dad’s arm as he led her and her mom across the open air field at the Garrison. There was a group of young cadets in the near distance, performing some drills of some sort. They seemed a little rowdy to Katie. 

“Almost there. Can you believe it?” Her dad turned and walked backward to face her, “ Matt and I are going where no one else has. And it’s For Science!” Her dad laughed and tousled her hair with the hand she wasn’t holding on to.

She could hardly believe it, and was opening her mouth to agree when the wind picked up and caused her dress to float around her calves and her hair to whip around her face, stealing her breath along with it. A couple more steps and the ship loomed up in front of them. She stilled, awestruck.

“It’s amazing.” She opened her eyes as wide as she could to try and take in as much of the scene before her as possible. Even then, it wasn’t enough.

“Woooo! Hey beautiful! Marry me!?” A distant voice traveled over the tarmac to her.

The excited yell caused Katie to be momentarily distracted from her current object of worship. She whipped her head around to see a commander haul one of the young cadets back by his collar. The boy was laughing and staring right at her. She stared back, now curious as to the goings on.

“I won’t warn you again, Lance”. The commander’s stern voice traveled easily with the wind, Katie didn’t have to strain at all to hear his reprimand. 

“Aww, Come on Iverson, you know I can’t resist a pretty girl when I see one!” 

The boy turned his face full in her direction then whistled at her before the cadet next to him, a burly kid with a kind face, told him to knock it off . Both boys smiled at her, and the whistling one winked and threw finger guns in her direction as he was being dragged off.

Katie squeezed in closer to her dad, out of the view of the boys. She wasn’t sure what to make of the whole interaction; people, especially those close to her age, never made much sense to her. What she did know, though, was that the attention from the boy had sparked the same elation in her that she had felt a few moments ago upon seeing her dad’s ship.

________________

The club was poppin’. 

It was everything Lance had wanted and then some. The three of them stood smushed together while waiting to get through the second entrance. Pidge thought Lance was looking pretty all right in a t-shirt and jeans, kind of cool, kind of dorky because of the hungry, expectant look on his face. Truthfully, it ruined his vibe, but not enough in Pidge’s opinion. Hunk was in that dang vest again, but, Pidge supposed, it was so he could carry a lot of tools with him at all times. As she had heard him say multiple times “You never know when a breakdown will occur, but you can be sure one will.” She was wearing her cadet uniform pants and a sloppy sweater Lance had made her put on because, as Lance so pleadingly told her, “You can’t let them know we’re Garrison.”

She pulled at the collar of the too big sweater, still curious as to why it was “fashionable” to wear items that looked like one stole them from their grandpa’s trunk. Hunk nudged her from behind as the group in front broke apart, causing her to stumble forward into the dark, loud, club. It was everything she had been actively trying to avoid while she was in disguise. Tons of people, flashing lights, etc. Why had she agreed to this again? Not only that, she was the one who had done the research for weeks, finding the busiest times, the clubs that allowed minors, or, more accurately, didn’t card anyone, or have a chip reader. Also, and this was pointed out to Pidge many times, it had to have the “cutest girls'', whatever that meant. (She knew what it meant but didn’t care to delve into Lance’s seemingly never-ending girl-craziness.)

As they pushed through,the music seemed to get louder and the flashing lights bounced off her borrowed glasses. Lance had tried to get her to go without them as well tonight, but Pidge put her foot down in case they were caught. A couple of girls came up and asked Pidge to dance, which caused her to want to go home immediately. 

“Nuh-uh, you’re not getting out of this.” Hunk shouted to her over the noise, as she hastened to back her way out of the club. “All for one and one for all and all that.” 

“Ugh. Why did I agree to this again?” She shouted back.

“It even has Latin music! Pidge, you’ve found the perfect club!” Lance placed his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a “bro” hug. “I swear, if you were a girl, I’d marry you right now.” Then he patted her head and disappeared into the crowd.

For a brief moment, Pidge caught herself wishing she could drop her disguise and join Lance on the dance floor. She shook her head from the thought and wandered toward the bar to get a soda and maybe some intel on her dad and brother.

_________________

They’d been crouched together in Green for what felt like vargas, watching screens and giving much needed feedback to their ground team. It was a simple mission, but not an easy one. One mistake and the whole asteroid would blow. Pidge had a lot of live adjustments to do, so having an extra pair of eyes on surveillance was agreed to be the best course of action. And, who better to quietly sit and watch monitors? Not Lance. Sure he was eagle-eyed, and Pidge knew he would definitely catch anything that others would miss, but he could not stay quiet. It was like a compulsion or something.

“I mean, I haven’t been on a single successful date since blasting into Space with you all. What if I peaked back at the Garrison?” Lance dramatically threw himself backwards in his chair, leaning over to look at Pidge upside-down.

“Lance! Keep your eyes on the screens.” Pidge snapped at him. She thrived on setting chaos into order, then Lance would show up, without fail, and add some back in. She should have been more consistently annoyed with him, but at least she could count on his brand of chaos. It never waivered.

“I’ve never dated anyone ever, so...do with that what you will. Also, when have you ever been on a ‘successful’ date?” The feedback graphs pinged and blipped as she concentrated on keeping their ground team alive and safe. They were almost to their target and then she could relax.

Lance had jumped back into position and was staring at the different visuals on the screens. “First of all, Rude. Secondly, I’m just saying, maybe I missed my chance. Maybe our soulmates are back on Earth and we’ll grow old out here and die alone. Maybe.” 

Even though she knew he couldn’t see it, she rolled her eyes, hopefully hard enough for him to feel it somehow. Come on paladin bond, don’t fail her now. 

“You don’t have to be so sardonic about everything Pidge. What if you never find love?” She could feel him staring at the back of her head.

“Keep watching the monitors…” She said it without looking his way. “I don’t care. I was never looking for love in the first place. I’m looking for my family.” The dials gave one large screech, indicating that the objective had been reached and their team was safe. Pidge relaxed, turning around to face Lance.

He had a thoughtful look on his face. They both stared at each other for a moment longer than necessary. Pidge cleared her throat. “Anyway, just find someone to agree to marry you if you can’t find anyone else. Simple solution. That way both of you know what to expect, and you can quit worrying because you’re guaranteed to not die alone. Or whatever.”

Lance stared at Pidge a moment longer, his eyes taking on an excited sheen. “That’s a great idea! So, what do you say? If we’re not married by. . .let’s say... thirty?” 

“Who's not married by thirty?” 

Lance got up and came over to where Pidge was sitting. He stretched out, then folded his lanky limbs up, coming to kneel before Pidge. He grabbed her hand and cleared his throat. He spoke like an over affected Shakespearean actor, “Pidge, if we’re not married by the time you are thirty, will you marry me?”

What was wrong with her teammate? She pulled her hand from his. “What!? No! I didn’t mean me.”

Lance grabbed her hand again, speaking in his normal tone now. “Why not? We’re friends, we get along, and you can be kind of cute when no one’s watching.”

Anger welled up in her as well as something else she didn’t want to examine. “What’s that supposed to mean?! Kind of cute? You’re ‘kind of’ annoying me.” She pulled her hands from his again.

Lance assumed a begging position, his hands clasped in front of him as he scooted closer to her. “Please please please please please please pleasepleaseprettyprettyprettyplease Pidge!”

“Fine! But just to shut you up.” She crossed her arms.

Lance jumped up and kissed her on the cheek “Woohoo! It’s a deal. You’re officially my, maybe fiance.” 

Pidge went back to looking at her monitors even though there was nothing to keep an eye on now. Her face felt hot. 

________________

“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!”

The questioning cry stopped Pidge’s advance. Lance had been slowly backing into the barn as they argued, their shouts rolling across the newly planted fields. His face was scrunched in anguish as tears rolled down his cheeks. Their paladin bond, thought to have weakened when the Lions left, was pulled taught with pain and heartache and unforgiveness. From both of them.

What did she want? Why had she come? On the surface, Pidge had convinced herself it was to ‘check up’ on Lance. The whole crew was hearing from him less and less over the passing months. If she stopped to delve a little deeper at all, she found a deep aching loneliness that had started well before his separating from all of them. Even before he had dived head-first into a relationship with Allura. She missed him, their buddy status, having him hanging around for no reason, and used the flimsy excuse to come see him, only to find him a shell of who he was before Allura gave up her corporealness to save existence. 

A shudder accompanied her breath, “I-I want you to be o-okay.” 

She felt, more than saw, him stiffen. “Well, brainiac, as you can see, I’m just peachy.” He waved his hands around, a dismissal of sorts. He looked lost.

It wasn’t what she had wanted to find when she got here. Her heart gave a heave within her chest. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I waited so long to come see you. I’m sorry you’re doing so poorly-”

“-DOING POORLY!? Who are you to come here and accuse me-” Lance rose up, anger and hurt flashing all over their bond and his face.

“-I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just I-we’re all worried about you. You don’t even have a girlfriend. Or anything…” She was messing this all up. She had come to be near him, yet they were growing further apart by the second. 

“You know what?” Lance walked back toward her. “If you want to ‘fix’ me, then fix me. Marry me. Get everyone off my back and fulfill your own wishes all at once.” He glared at Pidge.

Her eyes shot open in alarm. “My-my ‘wishes’?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Your ‘little’ crush on me. Everyone knew. You weren’t as good at hiding as you thought.” He spit out the words, anger causing every word to hit with a sharp edge. Pidge didn’t know how to respond. He knew and this is how he let her know?

He stopped right in front of her. She had to look up to keep eye contact. “I say it again, marry me. You’re here for you and not for me anyway. You were always a selfish one.” Lance smarted at his own words, Pidge could see it on his face. She knew he spoke in anger and brokenness. She knew, deep down, that she hadn’t been the best friend lately. But she also knew she didn’t deserve this vitriol, and she was done. Her heart broke.

“I’m out. I-” She choked on a sob as giant, hot tears streamed down her face without warning. She turned and ran toward her ship.

“Pidge! Wait! WAIT! I’m sorry! I didn’t. I didn’t...WAIT! STOP!” 

She could hear his feet slog in the wet earth as he ran after her. Hot ire increased her speed like no training ever could, and she was in her ship and taking off before Lance could catch up. She couldn’t hear him over the engine, and she didn’t look back to see if he was still there.

___________________

Everything was different lately. 

Better. 

For the first time since the end of the war, there was a very palpable sense of peace in the air, along with a whole new aerospace program on the ground. And Pidge had the privilege of being an instrumental part in the creation of the MFEs/Voltron Vehicle Force vehicles and space crafts. Not to mention, her entire family were pretty much the developers and head of the whole program. She was floating on air, happy with herself, her position, the work she had been conscripted to do, her friend group.

Settled. She would go so far as to say she was settled. In a good way. 

Pidge giggled to herself as she entered the main hangar, thinking that she spent an awful lot of time in Space for someone who was so grounded. As she walked toward her goal, the newest ground-to-space craft she and Matt developed,several members of her team rushed up to her with various questions and issues that needed to be handled. She swiftly answered the pressing issues, assigning tasks and delegating any work she didn’t necessarily need to handle herself.

She had one objective, get her hands on the ship’s operating system and work out anything Matt may have left in as a ‘surprise’. Was her brother brilliant? Yes. Was he also not above embarrassing her to the utmost? Also yes. And, considering it would be Lance flying this prototype, she needed to make sure any interaction he had with the ship wouldn’t also expose some great embarrassment of hers from the past.

Unbidden, a blush formed across her cheeks. Was there anything about her Lance didn’t know? Their friendship had righted itself the moment he showed back up to the Garrison, apologizing while Pidge threw herself in his arms, completely forgiving all. He quickly became an important, and much needed member of their team, and his presence rounded out the edges in her life she hadn’t realized were there. 

“Dr. Holt?” One of her engineers approached her, his voice warm with admiration.

“Hey, Stephen, how are you doing today?” She gave him her attention. He had been another great addition to their team, filling in where Hunk wasn’t able due to his many diplomatic missions.  
Stephen came close enough that she had to crane her neck to look up at him. He was looking pretty good in his coveralls, grease smeared under one eye, a piece of hair sticking up. Clearly he had been busy.

“Um. You got a moment to discuss something?” Pidge was immediately concerned something might be wrong with the mechanical structure of the craft due to Stephen’s nervous and unsure sound to his voice.

Pidge patted his arm, “Only if it’s good news. Otherwise, you can save it for Hunk.”

He chuckled, “I don’t think it’s good or bad news. Just a question.” Stephen shuffled back and forth, reaching up and scratching at the grease spot under his eye. He must have felt the grease because he pulled his hand away with a questioning look and wiped it on the front of his cover-alls. 

Pidge appreciated a tall, hard-working, guy. Especially one with a jaw like his. 

An arm suddenly snaked around her shoulder, pulling her close to the owner of said arm. One whiff and Pidge knew who had joined them. He always smelled so good.

“Hey, Steph, what’s up?” Lance gave a little nod Stephens ' way. 

Stephen pulled at his cover-alls again. “Sup, Lance?” He nodded back. “I was just going to ask Pidge a question.” 

They all stared at each other, a weighted silence filling the space. Stephen looked back and forth between Lance and Pidge. Lance held tight to Pidge’s shoulder. Pidge wanted to get to the operating system and clear it out.

“Um. You mind?” Stephen nodded at Lance. 

“Oh, yeah.” He dropped his arm from Pidge and backed away slightly. “Be my guest.” He didn’t go far however.

Pidge turned her attention back to Stephen. 

“So. I was wondering if you’d like to join me for dinner tomorrow night? Just the two of us?” He blushed.

Pidge blushed too. She’d been approached for dates far more frequently than she ever expected, but rarely had an offer been so tempting. “Kinda like a date?”

Stephen chuckled. “Exactly like a date.”

Lance popped up again, bumping his hip into Stephen’s and pushing him out of the way. “Dude, you’re asking Pidge, my fiance, out to dinner?”

“What?”  
“WHAT!?”

Pidge playfully shoved Lance back a little. “Shut up.” She turned to Stephen, “He’s joking. Of course I’d love to join you tomorrow. Meet me here at 7PM?”

Confusion, then relief, then something else, washed across Stephen’s face. “Sure!” Then he turned and walked away swiftly, but not before giving Lance one more confused look.

Pidge turned Lance’s way, giving him another playful shove. “What’d you do that for?”

“I’m not wrong. You promised to marry me by the time you’re 30, so you are my fiancee.” He laughed his, what Pidge liked to call, ‘gotcha’ laugh.

“YOU dork! I totally forgot about that.” She lied.

They turned and walked toward the craft together. “So, you’re really going on a date with that guy?”

“Yeah, why not?”

Lance looked thoughtful, “I guess have fun?”

Pidge looked up at him, a furrow in her brow. “I will.”

And she did, but caught herself thinking about Lance the entire time.

_______________

Ugh. Urk. Oh my quiznak, why was the light hurting her eyes? 

Pidge cracked one eye open, instantly regretting her choice. The minimal light sent horrible, stabbing pain through her head, while also highlighting the chaos around her forcing her to open the other eye. 

Ouch.

She was in an empty hot tub, someone’s heavy legs sprawled over hers. The weirdly sequined dress she was wearing caused her thighs to itch. She had no idea how she got here, where the dress came from, and whose legs were pinning her’s down. It would have probably been wise of her to be alarmed, but she was in no shape to care. 

Firstly, who was in the tub with her? A cursory glance let her know it was Keith. She shook him awake.

“Keith, Keith. Dude. Wake up.” It took several shakes before he roused, snapping to attention and pulling a blade on her. He stiffened for a moment before recognition crossed his face and he flopped back down in the tub. “Holy Quiznack I feel like-”

“You’re purple.” Pidge cut him off.

“Purple? Like, from the lights?” His voice cracked.

Though the lights in the, what might be a high-end hotel room, were varied and sparkly, hardly any of them held a purple hue. Pidge tried to laugh, but it came out like a croak followed by a groan. “No, like, purple purple. Dude.”

Keith looked stunned.

Someone mumbled on Pidge’s left. She gingerly leaned her head over her shoulder to find Lance laying on the floor in complete disarray. She’d never seen his skin looking less luminous than at this very moment.

He groaned. “Oh my lanta. My head.” He held it while sitting up and smacking his mouth, probably to get the awful taste out, if it was anything like what Pidge was currently experiencing.

“Same.” Pidge tried to smile his way.

“Pidge?” he looked past her, “Keith? What’s going on? What happened?” 

“I’ve been trying to figure that out all morning.” Everyone’s head turned to see Shiro rising from an armchair. His face was covered in what looked like clown makeup. He had a huge, championship belt around his waist. “I can’t remember anything after the awards ceremony.”

Pidge thought back through the previous night. The last thing she remembered was laughing with Lance and saying “Bottom’s up” when they had both wondered if the drink the aliens were serving would affect them. Her scanner said they wouldn’t. Clearly her scanner was wrong.

They were missing several of their group. Pidge’s hand burned a little. She looked down to find a little, hooked, line on one of her fingers. There was also a very ugly ring on her left hand. 

“Pidge.” Shiro drew her attention. “Can you access the cameras? If I remember correctly, this whole place is under surveillance.” He was so smart at the best moments, sometimes.

Lance had got up and managed to bring both Pidge and Keith a bottle of water. Shiro brought her her laptop. 

“Let me get out of this tub first.” Pidge tried to rise, thankful for Lance’s outstretched hand. “Oh, you have a weird hooked line on your finger too?”

Lance looked at where Pidge was pointing. “Hmmm? I wonder what that’s for?” He tried to rub it on his pants, but it was clearly indelible. He caught sight of Keith and started laughing, but the headache they all shared stopped him short. “I’d love to know how that happened.”

“Let me get to work.”

The group gathered around Pidge’s screen while she started her hacking. The system was easy enough, and in minutes she had a program running that would pick up everyone’s face on any footage they appeared.

It was worse than she thought. 

They all watched as their behavior became more and more bold during the awards’ after party. Together, they spilled out onto the street of the Vegas-like town. 

They lost Hunk first. Pidge should have known it would have something to do with cooking. It appeared, from the footage, that Hunk was now the owner of a newly popular restaurant.

Lotor and Allura broke off next, the effects of the beverages wearing off more quickly for them apparently. They looked horrified at their own behavior, then ran off to one of the ships, laughing all the way.

Coran somehow arranged, cast, and performed an entire production about a battle that happened on some far planet. Somehow it was both a musical and a comedy. According to today’s papers, it received rave reviews.

The mystery of Keith’s new color was solved when they found footage of him joining a shape shifter contest. Both the Lance and Pidge of last night, inebriated as they were, thought it was an amazing idea. While all the other contestants shifted over and over, Keith stood motionless, a deeply concentrated look on his face. He slowly turned purple, declared himself the winner, jumped off the stage, took the trophy, and they all ran out of the venue.

Shiro was found out next, in the middle of a lucha libre fight. He assumed an identity called “El Guapo” and won the championship. He was more popular than ever and now possessed a contract for at least the rest of the season.

The next footage that popped up shocked Pidge the most.

It must have taken place before everyone split up, as it showed the whole crew gathered outside of a chapel of sorts. Lance and she were trying to convince everyone to come to a wedding, showing everyone their new tattoos that made a heart when they held hands. Pidge was already wearing the gaudy, sparkley, waaay too short, dress she was currently in. Apparently that mystery won’t be getting solved any time soon.

Lance was trying to convince Keith to be his best man because, as ‘Pidge from last’ was so loudly declaring, she had already claimed Hunk for hers. The entire inebriated crew thought it was an incredible idea, and Lotor started crying before they had taken their seats in the chapel.  
He declared he alway cried at weddings and this was one he had been waiting on forever. 

The wedding happened, but in their drunken confusion, it was Pidge and Keith who ended up married to each other. The octopus-like alien said “you may now kiss the bride” but in a very garbled way, like talking through a glass of water. Lance grabbed Pidge and they essentially made out while everyone looked awkward. The octopus-man looked at Keith with a question on his face. Keith just shrugged.

“Wait! W-What...what did we just watch?”

“You married Keith!?”

“You wanted to marry me!?”

“You guys aren’t even dating.”

Watching all the footage might have confused them more than help, but Pidge knew one thing, which she assured Lance as much, grasping his hand in hers. She would get rid of the marriage, but she was keeping the tattoo.

________

“Where are you taking me?” It wasn’t that Pidge didn’t trust Lance, she just wasn’t always up for his surprises. 

“Ah ah. You’ll find out when we get there. Put that blindfold back down.” Lance reached up and held the blindfold wrapped around Pidge’s eyes, down. 

They were on a date. Which was a pretty regular occurrence since they’d been together for a year now. And Lance was prone to theatrics even though Pidge loved eating lasagna, and hanging out with him in his apartment just as much as the more incredible dates.

This date, though, according to Lance, was something to be remembered. He even bought her a dress to wear. She loved Lance’s taste in clothes, but she could never bring herself to be demonstrative about it.

Red zoomed through space, Lance’s hands steady, not on the controls, but around Pidge’s waist, holding her perched on his lap. Red seemed to be humming with excitement, or it could have just been Lance’s emotions projecting through the bond.

He seemed really excited about this date, notifying Pidge of it weeks in advance. She checked her calendar to see if she had missed some important date, but nothing jumped out at her.

She could feel Red slow down, and then stop. Lance held her face between her hands and kissed her, her blindfold still on. “Can I look now?”

He laughed, “Allow me.” He gently pulled the cover off, revealing nothing much of a surprise, they were floating between Saturn and its rings. Pidge could have made it here any day of the week in one of the regular ships back home. 

“Lance?” She questioned him.

He held her face again, looking at her about as sappily as Pidge had ever seen anyone. “I have a question for you.”

“Okayyy” Her heart beat a little faster with the affection pouring off his words.

“How many rings does Saturn have?” 

What? He didn’t have to bring her out here to ask that the information was available to anyone at the touch of a button. She opened her mouth to speak. “It’s commonly thought-”

“WRONG!” He cut her off. 

“You didn’t even let me answer, how do you know I’m wrong. And also, you know I won’t be.”

Lance laughed again, pulling her into him with one arm. He nuzzled her neck, then whispered into her ear, “Today, you’d be wrong. Today’s answer is ‘one more than usual’.”

He slid his hand up to her cheek and turned her head toward his other hand. He was holding a velvet box, opened so the ring inside could be easily seen.

Pidge drew in an astonished breath. Her eyes swept over Lance’s. He leaned forward and kissed her softly, first her lips, along her jaw, and then back to her ear. “Pidge, will you marry me?” He softly whispered.

She leaned back to look at him, not trusting herself to be able to put into words every emotion she was experiencing at this moment. The paladin bond was doing a pretty good job conveying their feelings. 

“Yes. As many times as you want, in any reality. Yes.” 

“Katie, that was the most beautifully sappy thing to ever come out of your mouth. I love you more for it. He kissed her thoroughly as he slipped the ring on her finger. Just like his presence in her life, it fit perfectly.


End file.
